Asian Games 2026: India announces 12-member archery squad

New Delhi [India], May 18 (ANI): Dhiraj Bommadevara, Ankita Bhakat and Jyothi Surekha Vennam will be part of India's archery contingent for the Asian Games 2026, scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19.

The 12-member squad was finalised after the second phase and final selection trials held at the SAI NCOE in Sonipat, Haryana, for both the Asian Games and World Cup Stages 3 and 4. India has picked three archers each in the men's and women's recurve and compound categories, according to Olympics.com.

In the women's recurve section, Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod, who recently teamed up to help India upset China for gold at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, have been included in the squad.

However, Olympian Deepika Kumari, also part of the Shanghai gold-winning team, has failed to make the cut. In the men's recurve team, Dhiraj Bommadevara will lead the side, while experienced archer Atanu Das also missed in the selection.

Both Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das finished fourth in the trials and narrowly missed qualification. Atanu had also been part of India's silver-medal-winning recurve team at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games.

In the women's compound category, world No. 3 Jyothi Surekha Vennam will spearhead the team after her triple-medal haul at the 2023 Asian Games, where she won gold in the individual, team and mixed events.

Another major omission was defending Asian Games champion Ojas Deotale, who finished fifth in the selection trials.

India had secured nine medals in archery at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games, including five gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The selected squad will also represent India at World Cup Stages 3 and 4, scheduled in Antalya, Turkiye in June and Madrid, Spain, in July, respectively.

Asian Games 2026: Indian archery squad

Recurve men: Dhiraj Bommadevara, Neeraj Chauhan, Yashdeep Bhoge.

Recurve women: Kirti Sharma, Kumkum Anil Mohod, Ankita Bhakat.

Compound men: Sahil Jadhav, Kushal Dalal, Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam.

Compound women: Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi, Prithika Pradeep. (ANI)

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